Just Dance (song)

2008 song by Lady Gaga

"Just Dance" is a 2008 song by American singer Lady Gaga, from her debut album, The Fame. Gaga sang this song with Colby O'Donis. The song was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 2009 Grammy Awards.[1] It reached #1 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

"Just Dance"
Single by Lady Gaga featuring Colby O'Donis
from the album The Fame
WrittenJanuary 2008
ReleasedApril 8, 2008
Recorded2008
Genre
Length4:02
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • RedOne
  • Akon
Lady Gaga singles chronology
"Just Dance"
(2008)
"Poker Face"
(2008)

On April 12, 2023, the Recording Industry Association of America announced the the song had been certified 11× Platinum (Diamond + Platinum) for shipments and streams of 11 million copies in the US alone. This made Gaga only the third female artist to have three Diamond- or higher-certified songs, after Katy Perry and Cardi B.[2]

Music video

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Released on April 25, 2008, the video was directed by music video director Melina Matsoukas, filmed in March 2008. and is based on the thematic content of the song of being in a party.[3] The video begins with Gaga arriving with her background dancers at a house party, which seems to have ended. One of the dancers puts a Discolite boombox on, blaring the music through the house. The crowd at the party appear to be sleeping in different areas, and are awoken by the music.[3] They all start to dance, and scenes of the party are intercut with scenes of a scantily clad Gaga dancing in a poncho, with a disco ball or in a small kiddie pool playing with an inflated orca whale.[3] She wears a blue, lightning-bolt shaped sticker beneath her right eye like that on the single cover, which paid tribute to the album cover of David Bowie's Aladdin Sane, as he is one of her musical idols.[4] O'Donis appears in the video being flanked by several girls during the "When I come through on the dance floor" interlude.[3] Cameo appearances are made by Akon and Space Cowboy. MTV called the video an ode to the "Me Decade".[5] During an interview with Australian radio in September 2008, Gaga said that "[t]he whole video is performance art about being drunk at a party."[6] When asked about the shooting experience of the music video, Gaga explained,

"Oh it was so fun, it was amazing. For me it was like being on a Martin Scorsese set. I've been so low budget for so long, and to have this incredibly amazing video was really very humbling. It was really fun, but you'll see if you ever come to a video shoot of mine one day – I'm very private about those things, I don't really talk to everybody. I'm not like the party girl running around. I might even seem to be a bit of a diva. I'm sort of with myself, in my work head space worrying about costumes, and if extras look right, and placement. I don't just show up for things, you know. That video was a vision of mine. It was Melina the director who wanted to do something, to have a performance art aspect that was so pop but it was still commercial, but that felt like lifestyle. It was all those things, I love it."[7]

The official video on Lady Gaga's Vevo channel, LadyGagaVevo, was a favorite among fans on and around December 8, 2009, the day Vevo was launched.[8]


Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[9] Diamond + Platinum 11,000,000 

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

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  1. FB, Dr (2009-02-10). "Exclusive! Just Dance; Prince's Grammy After-Jam With Whitney Houston". Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  2. ".@ladygaga now ties @iamcardib and @katyperry as the female artists with the most Diamond singles in @RIAA history (3 each)". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Lady Gaga – Just Dance Music Video". Interscope Records. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  4. "Lady Gaga – Transmission Gaga-vision: Episode 31". Interscope Records. LadyGaga.com. January 27, 2009. Archived from the original on May 24, 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2009.
  5. Harris, Chris; Stolz, Kim (June 9, 2008). "Lady GaGa Brings Her Artistic Vision Of Pop Music To New Album". MTV. Archived from the original on September 11, 2014. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  6. Cite error: The named reference tribunemagazine was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  7. Phoenix, Helia (2010). Lady Gaga: "Just Dance" – The Biography. Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4091-1567-0.
  8. Eordogh, Fruzsina (January 28, 2013). "Did YouTube Buy Fake VEVO Video Views? - ReadWrite". readwrite.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  9. "RIAA on Twitter: "#JustDance is officially #RIAATopCertified #Diamond . Congratulations @ladygaga and the @Interscope team!". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-04-12.